Individually Scheduled Court Dates as of 12/30/2010 NNH-CV10-6014252-S - CITY OF NEW HAVEN v. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOG ET AL # Date Time Event Description Status No Events Scheduled

Note: Other court activity may be separately scheduled on short calendars. Periodic changes to terminology may be made which do not affect the status of the case.

Disclaimer: For civil and family cases statewide, case information is displayed and is available for inquiry on this website for a period of time, one year to a maximum period of ten years, after the disposition date. To the extent that Connecticut Practice Book Sections 7-10 and 7-11 provide for a shorter period of time, this information will be displayed for the shorter period. In accordance with the Federal Violence Against Women Act of 2005, cases for relief from physical abuse, foreign protective orders, and motions that would be likely to publicly reveal the identity or location of a protected party may not be displayed and may be available only at the courts. http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=NNHCV106014252S#Schedule

UPDATE: Just found the Lis Pendens notice on record http://tinyurl.com/2f3f88sThe information below describes your property and lists your current tax year activity. Additional assessment and billing information is available by selecting the HISTORY option on the menu. If you believe any of the information to be in error, please call the Tax Office at (203) 946-8054 or EMAIL US by making that selection on the menu.

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

The information below describes your property and lists your current tax year activity. Additional assessment and billing information is available by selecting the HISTORY option on the menu. If you believe any of the information to be in error, please call the Tax Office at (203) 946-8054 or EMAIL US by making that selection on the menu.

Well that is interesting Mary.The last time I was in New Haven, the building looked abandoned. It is unfortunate because it is a nice building. There really are not many defenses to a foreclosure action. Unless they come up with the money to pay the back taxes and water bills, the court will order the property to be sold at auction. Webster Bank will probably bid the amount of the debt to protect their interest. Anyone interested in forming a charitable cult awareness corporation to purchase the property?

Well that is interesting Mary.The last time I was in New Haven, the building looked abandoned. It is unfortunate because it is a nice building. There really are not many defenses to a foreclosure action. Unless they come up with the money to pay the back taxes and water bills, the court will order the property to be sold at auction. Webster Bank will probably bid the amount of the debt to protect their interest. Anyone interested in forming a charitable cult awareness corporation to purchase the property?

Any way to find out what the debt amount is?

$66,000 + debt, sounds like it could be a lucrative venture, depending on the debt owed on it.

Sorry I didn'y gert back to everyone on this thread.... must have been the pain meds, lol

Anyway,

Quote

Quote from: skydog on January 14, 2011, 12:00 Well that is interesting Mary.The last time I was in New Haven, the building looked abandoned. It is unfortunate because it is a nice building. There really are not many defenses to a foreclosure action. Unless they come up with the money to pay the back taxes and water bills, the court will order the property to be sold at auction. Webster Bank will probably bid the amount of the debt to protect their interest. Anyone interested in forming a charitable cult awareness corporation to purchase the property?

Quote

You are correct. I could not find the amount of the debt owing to the bank but it's probably prohibitive since the market was good and prices high at that time. I wish I had the resources to buy that back and start a cult awareness corp!

Quote

Ethercat said: Any way to find out what the debt amount is?

$66,000 + debt, sounds like it could be a lucrative venture, depending on the debt owed on it.

Quote

I doubt it's lucrative because the large mortgage would have to be satisfied as well. I guess it's wait and see. Right now they are getting extensions of time, prsumably to scrounge up the monies to avoid a completed foreclosure. To date, nothing has changed in the court records that I know of. Here is what is online at court database"Individually Scheduled Court Dates as of 01/15/2011 NNH-CV10-6014252-S - CITY OF NEW HAVEN v. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOG ET AL # Date Time Event Description Status No Events Scheduled "

I guess one has to buy the 32 page mortgage to see what they borrowed from Webster. Not that interested.

Logged

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

I doubt it's lucrative because the large mortgage would have to be satisfied as well. I guess it's wait and see. Right now they are getting extensions of time, prsumably to scrounge up the monies to avoid a completed foreclosure. To date, nothing has changed in the court records that I know of. Here is what is online at court database"Individually Scheduled Court Dates as of 01/15/2011 NNH-CV10-6014252-S - CITY OF NEW HAVEN v. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOG ET AL # Date Time Event Description Status No Events Scheduled "

The mortgage is from the Church of Scientology of CT, Inc. to Webster Bank in the principle amount of 1,000,000 taken out in 2003. No way of knowing how much of that has been paid to date. According to the website (hasn't been updated in a few years) some money has been paid. http://newhavenidealorg.org/OTCWebSite/LatestNews.aspx

The church has been granted three thirty day extensions so far. It will be a few weeks before anything happens as apparently everyone in the city attorney's office is on vacation until next week. After that, an appraisal will be ordered on the property and the game commences. According to my sources, the church's attorneys have promised a vigorous defense with counter-claims against the city, appraiser and anyone else they can bully.

Apparently the church failed to file the appropriate paperwork with the city which is the reason the property is not exempt from tax.

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

I just checked on line with the Secretary of State for filings by the Church of Scientology of Connecticut Inc. They have not filed any paperwork for 2010. The following are the listed officers:Anna Rubin, PresidentCarol Yingling, Secretary (Don't know if she is related to Monique Yingling)Edyth Mercier, Treasurer Bradford Everett, Agent

The prior president was Gail Cassolino. She is not listed with the sec. of state but signed the mortgage deed and note as president.

I just checked on line with the Secretary of State for filings by the Church of Scientology of Connecticut Inc. They have not filed any paperwork for 2010. The following are the listed officers:Anna Rubin, PresidentCarol Yingling, Secretary (Don't know if she is related to Monique Yingling)

That was gonna be my next question.

Quote

Edyth Mercier, Treasurer Bradford Everett, Agent

The prior president was Gail Cassolino. She is not listed with the sec. of state but signed the mortgage deed and note as president.

Is it normal for corporations to change officers so often? I've noticed that CoS of Ga. changes pretty frequently.

Most do it annually, usually reelecting the same officers. Some more frequently.

Logged

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

I checked the judicial website this morning and the church has filed an answer, special defense and counter-claim to the the foreclosure action. The city has filed an answer to the counter-claim and special defense and asserted a special defense to the counter-claim. Once the church responds to the special defense, the pleadings will be closed and there should be some movement on the file. (Motion for Summary Judgment or trial list). I haven't had a chance to look at the file but will do so on my next trip to New Haven (within a few weeks).

I checked the judicial website this morning and the church has filed an answer, special defense and counter-claim to the the foreclosure action. The city has filed an answer to the counter-claim and special defense and asserted a special defense to the counter-claim. Once the church responds to the special defense, the pleadings will be closed and there should be some movement on the file. (Motion for Summary Judgment or trial list).

Thanks for the update! I always get a little laugh when the church of scientology enters a defense, even though I know it's just procedure, because of Hubbard's admonition "Always attack, never defend." I suppose the counter-claim is the "attack" part. I'm interested to see what a special defense is. "We don't have to pay our debts because everyone else is a religious bigot."

Quote

I haven't had a chance to look at the file but will do so on my next trip to New Haven (within a few weeks).

I just got back from the courthouse where I took a look at this file. The clerk's office charges a dollar a page for copies so I just took copious notes. Most civil cases in CT are "paperless" which means that they can be accessed through a computer network from any civil court in CT. Fortunately, I didn't need to go to New Haven and was able to access the documents locally. In a nutshell:

The foreclosure deals with the tax years 2008 and 2009. October 1 is tax day. The tax due on July 1, 2009 in the amount of $16,702.96 was based on the 10-1-08 assessment. The tax bill for the following year (assessed 10-1-09/due 7-1-10) was $44,196.42. The court records indicate that the original complaint (filed 9-10-10) dealt only with the tax year 2008. In the answer, special defense, and counter-claim (filed 2-14-11) filed by the church, they raised issues concerning both tax years. Consequently, the city amended its original complaint(filed 3-22-11) to foreclose on the taxes assessed on October 1, 2009. The church was then obliged to file another answer, special defense, and counter-claim which they did on 5-11-11. This pleading is substantially the same as the original filed on Feb. 14.

The pleadings indicate that there may be unpaid sewer and water charges that have accrued on the property. The Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority and South Central Connecticut Water Control Authority are each named as defendants but no attorney has filed an appearance on either's behalf. In a foreclosure action, all parties that have an interest in the property must be named as defendants. Because they have been so named, I am assuming that there may be outstanding monies due.

Webster Bank was also named as a defendant based on the mortgage given them by the church on September 12, 2003. The mortgage note ($1,000,000.00) is secured by the property as well as an assignment of leases (customary in a commercial transaction). They are represented by counsel but have not filed an answer. The city has filed a motion to default them for their failure to do so. This motion has not been acted on by the court. The bank will in all likelihood be defaulted for either failing to plead or failure to disclose a defense.

The special defenses and counter-claim filed by the church allege essentially the same thing. They claim that the church was granted tax exempt status in 2007. They further claim that this tax exempt status was revoked in 2009 and further that they were not notified of the revocation. Because they were not notified of this revocation they did not file an appeal with either the board of assessment appeals (General Statutes 12-111) or in the superior court (General Statutes 12-119). The counter-claim is in eight counts (each count is a separate cause of action). Four of the counts deal with the tax year of 2008 and four with tax year 2009. The substance of each claim is the failure of the city to notify them that the tax exempt status was revoked. They More on that later.

The church's lawyer is Nicholas Mingione of New Haven, CT. He appears to have sufficient abrasiveness to be a desirable mouthpiece for the cult. See,http://northbranford.patch.com/articles/town-council-hears-comments-from-pietrandreas-lawyer

There are affirmative obligations placed on tax payers wishing to exempt themselves from taxes. According to the city, the church never filed the necessary paperwork to continue this exemption. (according to the city's attorney).

The lack of notice claim is interesting for several reasons. In the first place, I am unaware of any obligation that would require the tax collector to "remind" tax payers that paperwork needs to be filed in order to continue an exemption. Tax collectors remind tax payers to pay taxes not to avoid them. Ignorance of the law is not a defense and the fact that they were not aware of this is just too bad for the church. In the second place, General Statutes, Sec. 12-119 provides a one year statute of limitations to file an appeal in superior court. That date begins on the date of the assessment. (10-1-08 and 10-1-09). The tax bills are due the following July and the church would have been sent a bills for these taxes the following June. So the absolute latest that the church would have had notice of the revoked status would be June 2009 and June 2010. So they still had four months with which to file an appeal on each of the tax years.

The most interesting thing about all this is that it confirms the many reports of the dire predicament the local churches are in as a result of the Ideal Org. program. The fact that the tax exempt status was revoked is a signal that the local churches do not have the funds to hire local counsel and tax professionals to avoid these types of problems. The fact that the tax exempt status was revoked was not even known was apparently not even known until suit was filed is an indication of a complete lack of communication.

The most interesting thing about all this is that it confirms the many reports of the dire predicament the local churches are in as a result of the Ideal Org. program. The fact that the tax exempt status was revoked is a signal that the local churches do not have the funds to hire local counsel and tax professionals to avoid these types of problems. The fact that the tax exempt status was revoked was not even known was apparently not even known until suit was filed is an indication of a complete lack of communication.

That is interesting. I definitely see some similarities between the situation in New Haven and Atlanta.

Thanks for reviewing the file and providing an update, Skydog.

Logged

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.-Dalai Lama